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Hoosiers and the American Story Chapter 3 3 Pioneers and Politics “At this time was the expression first used ‘Root pig, or die.’ We rooted and lived and father said if we could only make a little and lay it out in land while land was only $1.25 an acre we would be making money fast.” — Andrew TenBrook, 1889 The pioneers who settled in Indiana had to work England states. Southerners tended to settle mostly in hard to feed, house, and clothe their families. Every- southern Indiana; the Mid-Atlantic people in central thing had to be built and made from scratch. They Indiana; the New Englanders in the northern regions. had to do as the pioneer Andrew TenBrook describes There were exceptions. Some New Englanders did above, “Root pig, or die.” This phrase, a common one settle in southern Indiana, for example. during the pioneer period, means one must work hard Pioneers filled up Indiana from south to north or suffer the consequences, and in the Indiana wilder- like a glass of water fills from bottom to top. The ness those consequences could be hunger. Luckily, the southerners came first, making homes along the frontier was a place of abundance, the land was rich, Ohio, Whitewater, and Wabash Rivers. By the 1820s the forests and rivers bountiful, and the pioneers people were moving to central Indiana, by the 1830s to knew how to gather nuts, plants, and fruits from the northern regions. The presence of Indians in the north forest; sow and reap crops; and profit when there and more difficult access delayed settlement there. was a surplus. Because they came earliest and in the largest numbers southerners from Virginia, North Carolina, The Westward Movement and Kentucky were especially important in early Thousands of people crossed the Appalachian Indiana, many of them Scots-Irish from the Appala- Mountains and traveled the rivers and trails to the chian Mountains. Their way of speaking, preparing new state of Indiana in the first decades of the nine- food, and building barns made these Hoosiers teenth century. This westward movement featured different from those who would come later to the three general streams of migration. The largest stream north. Although they were from the South, most were was from the South. Next in size were pioneers from not plantation aristocrats. They knew nothing of the Mid-Atlantic states, mostly Pennsylvania and breezy verandas or fancy balls. Most, like young Abe New York. Smallest was the movement from the New Lincoln’s family, were too poor to own slaves. 56 | Hoosiers and the American Story 2033-12 Hoosiers American Story.indd 56 8/29/14 10:58 AM Abraham Lincoln Mural This section of the mural that Thomas Hart Benton painted for the 1933 chicago World’s Fair shows a young Abraham Lincoln alongside other notable Hoosiers and episodes from Indiana’s history. INDIANA UNIVERSITY CAMPUS ART COLLECTION ART INDIANA UNIVERSITY CAMPUS Chapter 1 | Native Americans in American History | 57 2033-12 Hoosiers American Story.indd 57 8/29/14 10:58 AM Settling Indiana This map from 1831 shows Indiana in the midst of its northward settlement. Over the previous ten years counties in the middle part of the state had taken shape and more counties were beginning to spread above the Wabash River. Road networks also expanded and linked Hoosiers to Indianapolis in the center of the state. COLLECTIONS OF THE INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY THE INDIANA HISTORICAL OF COLLECTIONS 2033-12 Hoosiers American Story.indd 58 8/29/14 10:58 AM Nearly all came because they had heard that migration. White pioneers also moved as links in a Indiana had abundant, cheap, and fertile land. Most chain. settlers agreed with the fictional pioneer woman who African Americans knew that many Quakers were told her husband as he went off to buy land, “‘Git a against slavery and that some had a dedication to their plenty while you’re a gittin’,” figuring that land would freedom and well-being. Thus, black pioneers sought probably never be cheaper than it was at that place and out Quakers and created all-black communities near time. them. The Beech Settlement in Rush County had a Many pioneers believed that land would not only population of nearly four hundred African American provide their living but also lay the foundation for settlers by the 1830s. In 1831 one black farmer wrote freedom, equality, and democracy. Those American back to relatives in North Carolina that his hogs ideals were important to pioneers. After crossing had increased in number from four to fifty in a year, through southern Indiana in 1818 Englishman Morris boasting, “if you could be here I could go with you in Birkbeck concluded, “The simple maxim, that a man some fields that would make you open your eyes.” has a right to do any thing but injure his neighbour, Other black communities included Roberts is very broadly adopted into the practical as well as Settlement in Hamilton County, Lyles Station in political code of this country.” Gibson County, and the Huggart Settlement in Saint Among those seeking a better life in Indiana Joseph County. In addition to creating lives of their were African American pioneers. Free blacks and own, some of these settlers helped slaves escape on the escaped slaves sought the same opportunities as Underground Railroad. white pioneers. Many black families moved to Indiana from the same neighborhoods in Kentucky or North Making Homes in the Wilderness Carolina. The process of moving from one place and The movement west was family centered. Brothers, settling together in another place is called chain sisters, and cousins often settled in the same county. Most new settlers were young men and women. Childbearing began as early as age seventeen. A new baby every other year meant a high birth rate and large families. Couples had no reliable birth control. As important, children were needed as workers on the family farm. Shelter was one of the pioneer family’s first concerns. Log cabins became homes and the symbol of pioneer life. Men cut logs, often of Pioneer Quilt during Indiana’s pioneer period women sewed quilts from whatever fabric was at hand. This double- nine patch-pieced quilt was sewn by a woman in the Crawfordsville area COLLECTIONS OF THE INDIANA STATE MUSEUM AND HISTORIC SITES AND HISTORIC MUSEUM STATE THE INDIANA OF COLLECTIONS between the 1820s and 1850s. Chapter 3 | Pioneers and Politics | 59 2033-12 Hoosiers American Story.indd 59 8/29/14 10:58 AM tulip poplar—later named the state tree—and notched all times for two years.” Later, women made clothing them at the ends so that corners were secure. In the from flax and wool. The sounds inside cabins often in- spaces between the logs a mixture of clay, mud, and cluded the hum of a spinning wheel. Women also made smaller pieces of wood filled the gaps. Along one wall quilts for warmth in the winter. These quilts are now they cut a door and sometimes a window, and along some of the most cherished of pioneer handicrafts. another wall they built a fireplace and chimney. The Men made shoes for their families, too, with no differ- floor was dirt. Pioneers built log cabins with few tools ence between left and right, one reason pioneers often and no nails, yet they offered good shelter. Within the went barefoot. Few early pioneers wore underwear. log walls could be heard the everyday sounds of life— laughter and anger, work and storytelling, dying and The Pioneer Legacy giving birth. Pioneers wanted a better life than they had back Food was also a primary concern. Without any in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, or Virginia. By and store-bought food, men hunted deer, wild turkeys, large, the Indiana frontier was a place of success for and small game such as squirrels. The wild game that most. The woods, streams, and fertile land provided women prepared for most meals was supplemented by food, clothing, and shelter for those willing and able to nuts, berries, honey, and other food from the forests. work. Pioneers believed progress was achieved through Clearing the land of massive trees to plant crops hard work. Few starved. Most wanted to move as soon was the pioneer’s hardest work. The ax was an essential as possible from crude log cabins and corn mush to tool. Families planted vegetables as well as flowers better lives. near their cabins. Corn, which grew well in Indiana, By the middle of the nineteenth century the was the most important crop. Women turned corn pioneer era was nearly over. Hoosiers had cleared and into all kinds of dishes such as corn pone, a flat bread planted most of Indiana’s land. Those who could afford made from corn meal and water, cooked in a skillet it had built and moved into brick homes. Stores were over a fire; mush made from corn meal and water or built, and the new Hoosiers bought shoes, underwear, milk to a consistency much like grits or porridge; and and many other items. Immigrants had built canals Johnny cakes, which were like corn pancakes. Many and railroads, connecting Hoosiers to people far away pioneers grew weary of eating these corn dishes. More and increasing commerce. A cookbook published in appealing to some was whiskey, which also was made New Albany in 1851 is suggestive of this emerging way from corn, although one traveler complained that it of life in Indiana. It contains recipes for oysters and “smells somewhat like bedbugs.” lemon punch. Hogs were everywhere on the frontier—wild and domestic—and deserve a place alongside the log cabin as central to pioneer life.
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